Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0At 15.0%, unemployment in Crisfield is among the highest of any U.S. town
Jobs and income earn Crisfield D−; getting around on foot earns it B−. Household incomes here are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns. For 6% of workers, the job is at home, against 19% across Maryland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Crisfield
Crisfield’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Crisfield is Salisbury, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (123) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Crisfield are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 31 across Maryland. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maryland worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 845 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Crisfield’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Crisfield is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #261 of 261 in Maryland. Job access by car holds Crisfield’s grade up (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Crisfield could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The distance from Crisfield to work
About 29% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Crisfield’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Crisfield workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 857 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Maryland: 80% drive alone, 5% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How many people are in Crisfield by day
On a workday 686 residents head out to work, 159 work right here, and 666 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.98 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
15% of working residents work in Salisbury
Where Crisfield clocks in
15% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Crisfield makes things: 34% of its jobs are in goods
825 jobs are based in Crisfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Crisfield, 2013 → 2023: 788 → 825. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Crisfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Crisfield is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Crisfield is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #217 of 261 in Maryland. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.0% across Maryland.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 910 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.1% of Crisfield households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Crisfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Crisfield next to U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Cabin John MD | 2,179 | $250K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Naval Academy MD | 3,006 | $122K | 1.5% | 4.4% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,609 | Washington Township OH | 1,936 | $43K | 26.5% | 1.4% | 4% | D− |
| 4,610 | Wrens GA | 2,100 | $38K | 26.1% | 17.4% | 13% | D− |
| 4,611 | Crisfield MD | 2,555 | $50K | 20.5% | 15.0% | 19% | D− |
| 4,612 | Aitkin MN | 2,155 | $48K | 22.1% | 4.0% | 38% | D− |
| 4,613 | Fairmont NC | 2,231 | $37K | 29.0% | 7.8% | 8% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Crisfield, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Crisfield: questions
What is the median household income in Crisfield?
$50,139 (±$11,998) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Crisfield?
20.5%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Crisfield?
22 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Crisfield work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salisbury (15%, 31 mi), Princess Anne (5%, 18 mi), Baltimore (4%, 100 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Crisfield walkable?
Crisfield is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Crisfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Crisfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Crisfield
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.